Senior Manager IT - Middleware Operations
Job Description Summary:
The Senior Manager, Middleware Platforms is responsible for defining and providing strategic leadership, direction, and management for enterprise middleware platform services in scope of this role: Web Platforms, Messaging Queue (MQ), File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management (certificate lifecycle management). They leverage their depth and breadth of expertise in these platforms to contribute to department strategy and to develop and execute plans that align with organizational priorities and objectives. This role involves people and budget management, resource planning, and ensuring adherence to organizational standards, policies, and controls. The Senior Manager role models and embeds a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement, ensuring the growth and development of team members and strengthening the organization’s platform capabilities.
What You Will Do:
- Leadership and Team Management: Provides strategic leadership and guidance to managers and colleagues within the Middleware Platforms team. Defines and rolls out strategic priorities, plans, and roadmaps for Web Platforms, MQ, File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management, adapting to address resource and delivery challenges in line with strategic objectives. Supports development and performance of team members through mentorship, performance reviews, and equipping colleagues with future-ready skills.
- Budget Management: Collaborates with leadership to identify, drive, and deliver cost initiatives in line with strategic objectives. Accountable for managing colleague, training, travel, and team budgets; monitors and controls expenditure ensuring alignment with departmental and organizational priorities.
- Governance and Operational Excellence: Leads the development and implementation of platform operating practices, standards, and controls, ensuring strategic alignment and compliance. Ensures adherence to organizational policies, guidelines, and risk oversight responsibilities, including maintaining platform documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures.
- Culture: Fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration that encourages continuous improvement, accountability, and alignment with strategic direction. Drives efficiency and effectiveness within the team and shares best practices across the department and wider organization.
- Compliance: Manage data privacy risks and ensure compliance with company policy regarding the processing of personal and/or other sensitive data.
- Platform Service Delivery: Owns end-to-end service health, reliability, and lifecycle management for Web Platforms, MQ, File Transfer Processing, and PKI Certificate Management, including capacity planning, upgrades, patching, and operational readiness across environments.
- DevOps and Automation: Oversees build/release processes and drives automation for deployment, configuration, compliance, and environment provisioning to improve speed, quality, and consistency.
- Stakeholder and Vendor Management: Acts as an escalation point for major incidents, service risks, and cross-team dependencies. Manages vendor partners and holds them accountable to SLAs/KPIs; builds strong partnerships with infrastructure, application development, cybersecurity, and business technology teams.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
- 10+ years of relevant experience in platform engineering, middleware, infrastructure services, and/or operations in enterprise environments.
- Proven people-leadership experience, including leading leaders (managers/team leads), coaching and development, performance management, and workforce/resource planning.
- Technical depth and track record owning enterprise platforms such as web platforms, messaging middleware (e.g., IBM MQ or equivalent), managed file transfer, and certificate lifecycle management/PKI (e.g., Keyfactor or equivalent).
- Experience owning end-to-end service health (SLAs/SLOs, incident/problem/change management, capacity, patching, upgrades, DR/BCP) and partnering with security/risk teams to meet control, audit, and compliance requirements.
- Strong command of platform engineering and operations best practices, including monitoring/observability, resiliency patterns, vulnerability management, and secure-by-design principles.
- Ability to set platform strategy and roadmaps and drive execution aligned to enterprise architecture and business outcomes (reliability, modernization, cost, risk reduction, and delivery).
- Demonstrated ability to resolve complex, high-impact issues that span teams; make timely decisions with incomplete information; and adapt priorities to address resource, reliability, and delivery constraints.
- Experience leading cross-functional programs from inception to completion (modernization, standardization, automation), including vendor/partner delivery governance and stakeholder communications.
Preferred Qualifications
- Strong executive communication and stakeholder-management skills, with demonstrated ability to influence decisions and drive alignment across infrastructure, application, security, risk, and vendor partners.
- Technical depth to dive into architecture, configuration/code reviews, and complex troubleshooting as needed, with experience operating large-scale, high-volume, highly available platforms.
Working Conditions
- Hybrid Office Environment
Compensation:
- The Salary for this position generally ranges between $138,000 -$160,000. Please note that the salary range is a good faith estimate for this position and actual starting pay is determined by several factors including qualifications, experience, geography, work location designation (in-office, hybrid, remote) and operational needs. Salary may vary above and below the stated amounts, as permitted by applicable law.
- Additionally, this position is typically eligible for an Annual Bonus based on the Company Bonus Plan/Individual Performance and is at the Company’s discretion.
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.
This is a hybrid position requiring three days in office per week in one of our hub locations (Cedar Rapids, Philadelphia, Denver). Relocation assistance will not be provided for this position.
This job description is not a contract of employment nor for any specific job responsibilities. The Company may change, add to, remove, or revoke the terms of this job description at its discretion. Managers may assign other duties and responsibilities as needed. In the event an employee or applicant requests or requires an accommodation to perform job functions, the applicable HR Business Partner should be contacted to evaluate the accommodation request.